Too many Books, Too little Time 2014

The White Feather

Over the past few years, I have literally bought around 150 books. They are taking up loads of room in my house so I have resolved to read them and offload them!

When I was younger I read non stop and would almost read 3 or 4 a week but now I just seem to have no time. So i have promised myself to MAKE time and read a lot more.

Last year I read only 7 books which is very embarassing to even type!

This year until now I have read 6 books but at least I have read more pages by now than I did all last year.

Here is what I have read so far this year

I started off reading

1. City at the End of Time by Greg Bear

I love Sci Fi but this was just mumbo jumbo to me and gave up as it was boring and seemed way too silly

Then I read

2. The Secret History by Donna Tartt

A great book but would not be to everyones taste . I would recommend you give it a go as the story is very interesting and it is certainly well written. A fantastic book thats definitely recommended!

then

3. The Two Minute Rule by Robert Crais

This is a nice read that is enjoyable but does have a few negatives also.The story flies along with a few cliches. If you just go with them then its a great read. The story is a bit scooby doo style with everything neatly tidied up by the end.

Former bad guy now turned hero,Hero gets help from old friends who seem to have everything such as money and easy to get driving licences,Bad guys caught after a good guy goes bad,romance between the main character and former FBI agent and former FBI agent gets job back by the end of story.

If you look past these things and just go with the story like i did then its a nice read. There is a nice flow to the story and I found it a very easy and quick read so in a sense its like fast food! I enjoyed it while reading it but wont remember it much in a few weeks!


4. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

This won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and Donna Tartt's Goldfinch is a facinating read with a great story that kept me hooked througout the book. Like The Secret History, sometimes I had to reread passages as I found there were a lot of details to take in. This makes reading a small bit impossible so I had to make sure to put a good bit of time aside to read and soak it in! It was a real epic to read as the story spans a good bit of time so I really felt I was on a great journey.

The only slight problem I had was the philosophising at the end of the book that seemed a bit of mumbo jumbo to me but might take a few more reads to understand.

Overall it is a great read and I recommend this book thoroughly!

5. Killing Kennedy : The End of Camelot by Bill O'Reilly

It was a good read but more about Kennedys life rather than the actual killing of Kennedy like the title suggests. I was hoping there would be theories about the killing debunked or proved but it was just a straight reporting of facts. Its still a very good book but other than titbits about Kennedy and Oswald's life I didn't learn much more than I knew beforehand

6. 59 Seconds: Think a little, change a lot by Richard Wiseman

A very informative book about little tweaks that you can make to improve your life and the odds of good things happening. I like the way he says they are not foolproof methods but they are ways to raise your chances of getting good results. Check it out!

So now that you are up to date, here we go for the rest of 2014

By the way, feel free to tell me what you thought of the books that I have read too of course!

The White Feather

The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin

Synopsis

In this classic thriller, Ira Levin imagines Dr Josef Mengele's nightmarish plot to restore the Third Reich. Alive and hiding in South America, thirty years after the end of the Second World War, Mengele gathers a group of former colleagues for a sinister project - the creation of the Fourth Reich. Ageing Nazi hunter Yakov Lieberman is informed of the plot but before he hears the evidence, his source is killed . . . Spanning continents and inspired by true events, what follows is one of Levin's most masterful tales, both timeless and chillingly plausible. Praise for Ira Levin: 'Levin is the Swiss watchmaker of the suspense novel' Stephen King

Review

This had an intro by Chelsea Cain who I never had heard of before saying that she read it when she was young and loved it.I was more interested in Stephen King calling him the Swiss watchmaker of the suspense novel so I thought I might like it.

I had heard of this book only through the movie that was made from it. I never actually saw the movie in full and just knew it was about Nazis and a mad doctor! The mad doctor in question is Josef Mengele who was a Nazi doctor in a concentration camp and the author has used the real life person in this book of fiction.It's set in the 1970s and he has a diabolical plot to bring about the Fourth Reich!

I had never read any of Levins books before but I will definitely be looking out for more as this was very exciting and was why the phrase 'Page Turner' was invented! I found it easy to read and there were no boring parts so I would definitely recommend it if you like thrillers.

It did make me look up the real life person on the net and it was sickening to read what he did in the camps. I liked the idea of using a real life person in this plot as I would think if Mengele could have done it he would have tried to do it.

Now I must try to find the movie and check it out fully after having read the book!

The White Feather

Headhunters by Jo Nesbo

Synopsis

Roger Brown has it all: clever and wealthy, he's at the very top of his game. And if his job as a headhunter ever gets dull, he has his sideline as an art thief to keep him busy.

At a gallery opening, his wife introduces him to Clas Greve. Not only is Greve the perfect candidate for a position that Brown is recruiting for; he is also in possession of one of the most sought-after paintings in modern art history.

Roger sees his chance to become rich beyond his wildest dreams, and starts planning his biggest theft ever. But soon, he runs into trouble - and it's not long before the hunter becomes the hunted...


Review

I picked this book up second hand as I liked the premise and I have never read Jo Nesbo's books before. I thought Jo was a woman so I was surprised to see a guys picture inside the back cover!! :eek: This book has been translated from the writers native language of norwegian and I found the first half in particular a bit 'clunky' with overly long sentences. A lot of passages seemed to be saying simple things in a long winded way and it was a bit off putting.I would put this down to the translation and the good news is that it seemed to get better later in the book. Near the end I didnt even notice it any more.


I did learn a new word that I had never heard of before...........


'Ineluctable' ...............I thought it might be a misprint



What do you think it means?

Have a think then scroll down!











It means Inescapable!


This book got better and better as it went on and had a few twists and turns that were very good. Somehow, I saw the main twist coming but I don't know if everyone will see it too.It has only a few main characters but the whole thing works very well and I can see why this is being made into a Hollywood movie. There is a norwegian movie out already that I must try to see sometime.


Everthing is neatly tidied up by the end and is a bit like Scooby Doo in that everything is explained. I liked this as I thought there were some things that didn't make sense but it was all plausible and explained well. For some people, they might not like this so bear this in mind if you are going to read it!


This makes me want to read more of Nesbos work so yet again, another author is on my list of people to watch out for once I get back to getting books again. I have one more of his already but I have banned myself from getting more books until I read and offload a few to charity shops!

(This book gets a bonus as I learned a cool new word that i'm waiting to use :pac: !!)

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Hotel by Arthur Hailey

Synopsis
#1 New York Times bestselling author Arthur Hailey unveils the inner workings of a grand hotel and brings to life the nonstop human drama that rages behind the scenes

During five sultry days, the lives of the guests, the management, and the workers at New Orleans’ largest and most luxurious hotel converge in an explosive human drama of round-the-clock excitement. The owner has four days to raise the money to save his financially ailing property. The general manager, once blacklisted from the hospitality business, struggles with one crisis after another. A rebellious heiress will do anything to attain her secret desires. The duke and the duchess in the lavish presidential suite are covering up a crime. Also staying at the hotel is a professional thief.

Review

This is one of those books that I always wanted to read but just never got around to it. It's a famous book so it was on my to be read list and finally i read it. I enjoyed it a lot as it deals with everyones different positions within an old hotel, from the bellboy to the owner over a short few days.Its not very taxing on the brain but you can see the inner workings of an actual hotel have been well researched.

While i did enjoy it, there are a few problems.The ending was completely obvious from the start and the characters are a bit what i like to call Scooby-Doo! As in, they are either totally good or bad.

Its worth a read but I would definitely never read it again but I would like to read his other books. So you can see I liked it just not loads. It left me glad i read it and entertained but not riveted.

Maybe its like the book form of Pringles. I enjoyed it at the time but after I read it, I'm not sure what good I got out of it!!!!

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The Quest by Nelson DeMille

Synopsis

A sweeping adventure that's equal parts thriller and love story, Nelson DeMille's newest novel takes the reader from the war torn jungles of Ethiopia to the magical city of Rome.

While the Ethiopian Civil War rages, a Catholic priest languishes in prison. Forty years have passed since he last saw daylight. His crime? Claiming to know the true location of Christ's cup from the Last Supper. Then the miraculous happens - a mortar strikes the prison and he is free!

Old, frail, and injured, he escapes to the jungle, where he encounters two Western journalists and a beautiful freelance photographer taking refuge from the carnage. As they tend to his wounds, he relates his incredible story.

Motivated by the sensational tale and their desire to find the location of the holiest of relics, the trio agrees to search for the Grail.

Thus begins an impossible quest that will pit them against murderous tribes, deadly assassins, fanatical monks, and the passions of their own hearts.

THE QUEST is suspenseful, romantic, and filled with heart-pounding action. Nelson DeMille is at the top of his game as he masterfully interprets one of history's greatest mysteries

Review

I am a big fan of this author and looked forward to reading this book. That is, until I read Hoofballs review of it and then i thought uh oh! So hoping i might like it even though he/she didnt, I began to read it.

The author gives a note saying he wrote it in the 70s while he was in college. It was written well but one can definitely tell it was early in his career.It is really boring and the whole thing reminds me of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. That film was about finding the Holy Grail and I remember still to this day seeing it in the cinema! This book relies on taking all the fun stuff out and boring stuff put in.

There is a whole load of stuff of walking through the jungle days on end,trying to get into a vatican college, then looking at maps for ages when they do, flying over the jungle and then landing and going through the jungle yet again!

The female character does nothing at all except be in a love triangle and taking baths naked :eek: The editor advised the author to put in more romance but this didnt work at all.

She just went from one to the other and back again, then back to original at the end. Then at virtually last page she swaps yet again! :rolleyes:

This is 460 pages that should have been cut down to a short story. Even then it would be a stretch! There is no pay off at the end after all this and to get through the book, I skipped bits here and there to get through it. There is only so much walking through the jungle discriptions that one can take! This added to descriptions of maps and historical info gets very tedious.

Do not bother with this book even if you are a fan of Nelson DeMlle. Its a real snoozer that should have stayed unpublished!

The White Feather

Cujo by Stephen King


Synopsis

Outside a peaceful town in central Maine, a monster is waiting. Cujo is a two-hundred-pound Saint Bernard, the best friend Brett Camber has every had. One day Cujo chases a rabbit into a bolt-hole - a cave inhabited by sick bats. What happens to Cujo, how he becomes a horrifying vortex inexorably drawing in all the people around him makes for one of the most heart-stopping novels Stephen King has written


Review

Carrie was the first Stephen King book that I ever read but since then I have only read a handful of his books even though I know I would like all his books.All I knew about Cujo is that its about some dog going crazy as I remember years ago, flicking the tv on late one night and the movie version was on.Thankfully I didnt watch the full movie so I was still fresh for the story!

This is a very entertaining read that I would recommend as the tension keeps building throughout.A simple premise but its a damn good yarn! My only quibble is that it dipped a bit for me in the middle. Its 420 pages and maybe 50 or so pages right in the middle could have been cut out. It felt slightly padded but then things keep on building after the short plateau.

I picked this up new for 3 Euro so it was great value for money.In the future, I want to read a lot by him as obviously he is one of the best. This was a classic that I have only just got around to reading so at least I finally read it!




On a side note, I am really speeding up my reading.When i was younger I flew through books but up until recently I crawled along. Too many distractions. Now its become everything off except a lamp and off I go reading!

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Destination Unknown by Agatha Christie

Synopsis

A woman thinks she has nothing to live for – bereaved, divorced – she is saved from suicide by an opportunity to die in an altogether more thrilling way. Nuclear scientists, international intrigue and a touch of romance, Agatha Christie takes her readers on a wild excursion far from the country houses and cosy murders of England.
Christie based this book partly on the activities of two famous physicists of the early 1950s: Bruno Ponecorvo, who defected to Russia, and Emil Fuchs, who spied for the Russians. It is another of Christie’s light-hearted thriller novels featuring a daring and fearless heroine.
It was first published as a novel in the UK in November 1954 and was published in the US under the title So Many Steps to Death. It has never been adapted.



Review


If you have never read any books by Agatha Christie then you should definitely start now.I have read loads but not all of her mysteries and they all are very good. This one does not involve Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot and is not a whodunnit. It is a standalone novel thats more in the spy genre.


This is set in the 1950s era where scientists were defecting to the Soviet Union and efforts to track them and get them back.It starts off with the heroine about to commit suicide but is stopped from doing so. She is persuaded to go on an adventure for the British government as she has nothing to lose and she just happens to look like someone else who has died. Yes, its a bit far fetched but its not a bad read.


It seemed to me that Agatha Christie wanted to try her hand at the spy novel so wrote this novel to do something different than her usual work.It kind of worked but kind of didn't also as there are a few surprises but no real twist. There is no real climax at the end and it never gets really, really exciting but I still enjoyed the book.I would not read this again but I would read her classic mysteries again so that is the kind of book it is.

Its only 190 pages and was a quick read but in a few months I doubt i would remember it much.If you are a fan of her mysteries then you should read this too but if you are new to her books then read her mysteries first as they are much better.

The White Feather

The Last Days of Hitler : The Legends - the Evidence - the Truth by Anton Joachimsthaler



Synopsis



Despite thousands of pages of evidence made public after inquiries into Hitler's death at a German federal court that lasted from 1952 to 1956, mysteries surrounding the Fuehrer's final hours continue to intrigue and puzzle many. Time is running out for one last attempt to assess the eyewitness evidence, but this expert has interviewed most of the still-living witnesses who testified at the inquiry and has examined records from Russia that were unavailable in the 1950s. The result is a careful re-examination of the state of the bunker, the corpses found at the site, the evidence of gunshots and of suicide, the attempts to make identification difficult, and the all-important dental records.



Review


This is a very extensively researched book all about Hitlers last days in his bunker as the Russians closed in. It starts off where things are getting really bad for Hitler and decisions he made. There are some great bits on information on his mindset as all the info is taken from witness statements and cross checked for accuracy.

In this book, there are things like how he was such a nutcase but then would look after his dog like a child seemed amazing to me. Usually in movies Hitler is shown as screaming and ordering troops that didn't exist to attack. While of course he did do that kind of thing, this book shows how he would admit later in confidence that he knew the war was over.I thought he was always believing that he would win!

He thought if he could bog the english and americans down long enough that they would just come to a peace arrangement and then he could concentrate on the Soviets.At the end all the rats start leaving the bunker trying to get away even after saying they would stay with him to the end.

The only problem is that its almost too thorough as there is a lot of info about the thickness of the walls in the bunker and Hitlers dental history.But this is the author really going in depth for clarity.If you are anyway interested in WW2 history then this book is a must read. I learned a lot of things that I did not know previously and the author goes to great lengths to clear up the confusion.

The White Feather

Plum Island by Nelson Demille

Synopsis


Wounded in the line of duty, NYPD homicide cop John Corey is convalescing in rural eastern Long Island when an attractive young couple he knows is found shot to death on the family patio. The victims were biologists at Plum Island, a research site rumored to be an incubator for germ warfare. Suddenly, a local double murder takes on shattering global implications - and thrusts Corey and two extraordinary women into a dangerous search for the secret of PLUM ISLAND…

Review

I was not able to read as much as I wanted to in the past few weeks but recently I was able to get going again (thank god! ) This was a great thriller that I would recommend to all thriller lovers out there. The hero is a great character that the author says was meant to be finished after this book but he brought him back by popular demand.

It reads like you are watching a hollywood movie as it starts with the grizzled veteran cop recovering from a shooting when two people he knows get murdered and he wants to know what happened.

It is just under 600 pages but it was a very easy read and had me hooked from the start. If you like a good thriller like I do, then check this book out now!

The White Feather

As I have been too busy, I forgot to update this log so here I am again!

I have been reading away since the last post and have read.....

A Brief history of the Samurai by Johnathan Clements

I had to abandon this book as it was really tedious with loads of this guy did this then this guy killed him and other guy killed him. It read like an academic book that you are forced to read in school! It said brief but it was very in depth and I got lost as there were so many different people with very similar names. Avoid it and dont bother!

The Third Reich by Michael Burleigh

This was a great book and covers everything from when the Nazis came to power until they were finished.The horrifying details of stuff they did was very hard to read. I mean we all know what they did but the actual details of how they did things day to day were awful.

One passage about how they killed all the parents and teens of an area and a load of their toddlers aged from 1 to 7 were left in a warehouse will always live with me. The Nazis forgot about them and then later said "Oh we have to kill them" but no one wanted to actually do it. So then they had a load of meetings until they picked unwilling soldiers to kill them.

A very tough read as the book is very long and very detailed.It does assume you know the main details so be warned if you read it.

The Sentry by Robert Crais

A good fun book that is worth it if you like crime/thrillers.

The Forgotten by David Baldacci

One of his better books that is a little far fetched but good. The usual flaws of Baldacci though. Either the character is totally good or bad and every hero is an expert!

Born standing up by Steve Martin

A very easy read with the man himself telling his story about how he started and finished his career in Stand Up Comedy.If you are a comedy fan then this is a must read!


And now i am finally up to date with this log!!

The White Feather

20.

Dragon Tears by Dean Koontz

This book was far too long and seemed like he had an idea for a short story and then padded it out.lt wasn't too bad but very simple. If you havent read this yet don't bother unless you are a huge Dean Koontz fan!

21.

The Electric Church by Jeff Somers

I thought I was going to hate this book as it is a dystiopian cyberpunk style book but I was wrong! A great read and I think it all depends on if you can get into the world the author creates. If you can't get your head around it then you will hate the book.This book has sequels so I will be looking out for them from now on. There is a lot of action in this and lots of different technologies so i think you will know if you like this kinda thing or not.

Extra brownie points given as there is a legendary hero talked about in the book as working for the Irish government and an organisation called the Dúnmharú which is Irish for Murder!

The White Feather

I forgot to finish off this log for 2014 so here is the rest.....

22. Ice Cold in Alex by Christopher Landon

This is a famous book that was made into a famous movie but I didnt really like it. Its set in WWII and about an ambulance in the desert. Not much happened and I didn't like the writing either.Disappointed!!

23. Mind Gym:An Athletes guide to Inner Excellence by Gary Mack

This book is both good and bad and depends what you want out of it.Its good in the sense of there are loads of positive sayings and thoughts from the top people in their field.

Its bad in the sense of it doesnt really go through how to be successful , the athletes are all american except one ot two and some have since been found to be on drugs like Lance Armstrong.

I will use this book before I do something as a last minute pep talk and i think thats the best way to use it. Such as if you are on the way to traiining and want to go from the start.



2014................

I finished the year with only 23 books read but Its a lot better than previous years!